Results from the Baksan Experiment on Sterile Transitions (BEST).

The Baksan Experiment on Sterile Transitions (BEST) was designed to investigate the deficit of electron neutrinos ν_{e} observed in previous gallium-based radiochemical measurements with high-intensity neutrino sources, commonly referred to as the "gallium anomaly," which could be interpreted as evidence for oscillations between ν_{e} and sterile neutrino (ν_{s}) states. A 3.414-MCi ^{51}Cr ν_{e} source was placed at the center of two nested Ga volumes and measurements were made of the production of ^{71}Ge through the charged current reaction, ^{71}Ga(ν_{e},e^{-})^{71}Ge, at two average distances. The measured production rates for the inner and the outer targets, respectively, are [54.9_{-2.4}^{+2.5}(stat)±1.4(syst)] and [55.6_{-2.6}^{+2.7}(stat)±1.4(syst)] atoms of ^{71}Ge/d. The ratio (R) of the measured rate of ^{71}Ge production at each distance to the expected rate from the known cross section and experimental efficiencies are R_{in}=0.79±0.05 and R_{out}=0.77±0.05. The ratio of the outer to the inner result is 0.97±0.07, which is consistent with unity within uncertainty. The rates at each distance were found to be similar, but 20%-24% lower than expected, thus reaffirming the anomaly. These results are consistent with ν_{e}→ν_{s} oscillations with a relatively large Δm^{2} (>0.5 eV^{2}) and mixing sin^{2}2θ (≈0.4).

[Community-acquired pneumonia with atypical (mycoplasmic and chlamydial) infection].

AIM: To perfect prehospital diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) of atypical etiology (mycoplastic--Mp and chlamydial--Ch). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Routine clinical examinations, sputum seeding, enzyme immunoassay were made in 214 patients admitted to therapeutic departments of two large Barnaul hospitals. RESULTS: Mp CAP was diagnosed in 21.5%, Ch CAP--in 12.1%, combination--in 7.0% patients. Sputum seeding was made in 67 patients. Of them 41.8% patients were found to have bacterial infection. Atypical infection combined with bacterial in 44.1% patients. The above combination was more frequent in patients with Ch CAP than with Mp CAP (58.8 and 29.7%, respectively). Bacterial flora was detected in 39.1% CAP patients without atypical infection. A retrospective analysis of case histories in respect of prehospital stage discovered that CAP patients with atypical infection are characterized by more frequent contact with patients with acute respiratory viral infection and workers of services sector. CAP arises primarily in autumn and winter with morbidity correlating with acute respiratory diseases morbidity. CONCLUSION: CAP with atypical infection is characterized with prodromal period, late visit to the doctor, late hospitalization, late x-ray verification of the disease especially in Ch CAP. Mp CAP is more prevalent in young patients, Ch CAP occurs most frequently in young, presenile and senile patients. The presence of the prodromal period in CAP patients with atypical infection is the cause of mistakes in outpatient diagnosis. Instead of CAP such patients are often diagnosed to have acute respiratory viral infection (54.5%) or exacerbation of chronic bronchopulmonary disease (15.9%).

[Nosocomial respiratory infections in patients with bronchial asthma]. / Vnutribol'nichnye respiratornye infektsii u bol'nykh bronkhial'noi astmoi.

AIM: To study incidence and causes of nosocomial respiratory infection (NRI) and its influence on clinical manifestations of bronchial asthma (BA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 5212 inpatients of the pulmonary department were examined from 1994 to 2000. RESULTS: NRI was found in 41 of 912 patients with BA (4.5%) compared to 57 of 1287 patients with pneumonia (4.4%) and 72 of 1793 patients with chronic bronchitis (4%). In BA patients NRI was represented by acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI) in 39 cases and by nosocomial pneumonia (NP) of candidiasis genesis in 3 cases. ARVI occurred more frequently in winter (37%), less frequently in spring (23%), autumn (23%) and summer (17%). During outbreaks, ARVI affected 11.7% BA patients, but out of outbreaks only 1.5%. ARVI occurred twice more frequently in patients with atopic and severe BA, 3.5 times more frequently in using inhalatory glucocorticoids in the course of treatment, and much more often in case of using these systematically. Mycoplasmic pneumonia was detected in 1/4 of ARVI patients. CONCLUSION: NRI was detected in 4.5% patients with BA. NRI was represented by ARVI (4.4%) and by nosocomial pneumonia (0.3%). Mycoplasmic pneumonia was detected in 1/4 of BA patients with ARVI. ARVI, especially associated with mycoplasmic infection, aggravates the course of BA.

[Oxidant-antioxidant status of patients with bronchial asthma during inhalation and systemic glucocorticoid therapy]. / Oksidantno-antioksidantnyi status bol'nykh bronkhial'noi astmoi pri ingaliatsionnoi u sustenbii gkuyjijirtujiudbii terapii.

AIM: To study the oxidative-antioxidative status in patients with bronchial asthma (BA) and its changes in response to treatment with account for the method of glucocorticoid therapy (GT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 40 patients with moderate bronchial asthma (BA) of mixed type were randomized into 2 groups by the method of GT. The patients of Group 1 received oral prednisolone for 20 days, beginning with a dose of 20 mg/day, those of Group 2 also inhaled benacort (400 micrograms twice a day) for 20 days. Admission and discharge measurements were made of overall plasma oxidative activity (OOA) and concentration of thiobarbiturate-reactive products (TBRP); overall antioxidant activity (OAOA), the activity of superoxidedismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GP) in the red cells. The control group consisted of 20 healthy subjects. RESULTS: In acute active BA, plasma OOA and TBRP levels were high (p < 0.001) while antioxidant defense in the red cells was suppressed: OAOA by 22% (p < 0.05), SOD activity by 41% (p < 0.001), catalase activity by 15% (p < 0.05) and GP by 44% (p < 0.01). GT in Group 1 resulted in clinical improvement associated with low production of free radicals, suppression of intracellular antioxidant defense, in Group 2 clinical improvement was not associated with changes in the oxidative-antioxidative status of BA patients. CONCLUSION: BA patients have a marked imbalance between production of active oxygen forms and activity of intracellular antioxidant enzymes. This evidences for low adaptive and defense processes leading to the oxidative stress which is one of the leading links in BA pathogenesis. Oral GT reduced extracellular oxidative status, inhibited activity of intracellular antioxidative enzymes. Inhalation GT had no negative systemic action on antioxidant enzymes.

[Lung lesions of drug origin accompanied by hypereosinophilia]. / Porazheniia legkikh lekarstvennogo geneza, protakaiushchie s giperéozinofiliei krovi.

A study is presented of 16 patients with eosinophilic lesions of the lungs due to drug treatment. The disease was characterized by a reduction of T-lymphocytes, inhibition of the enzymatic activity of leucocytes, dysproteinemia with hypergammaglobulinemia and reduction of IgG concentration. Patients with a high eosinophilia in the blood revealed a severe course of the disease with polysystemic involvement. The therapeutic effect was achieved only by means of prednisolone monotherapy. At the remote period they developed as a rule bronchial asthma. Patients with moderate eosinophilia showed a more favourable course, treatment proved successful with employment of nonsteroid anti-inflammatory agents, antihistaminic drugs in combination with nondrug treatment.

[Eosinophilic lesions of the lungs (case reports and review of the literature)]. / K voprosu ob éozinofil'nykh porazheniiakh legkikh.

Overall 75 references concerning the etiology, pathogenesis and the clinical picture of eosinophilic lesions of the lungs were analyzed. Sixteen patients with drug-induced disease were placed under the author's observation. Of these, 8 patients fell ill due to penicillin, 3 to tetracycline, 3 to sulfanilamide intake and alpha to intal inhalations. In 10 patients, pneumonia was characterized by high blood eosinophilia (from 20 to 53%, 37.5 +/- 2.7%) and in 6, it was of moderate nature (from 10 to 15%, 11.8 +/- 0.8%). According to the author's data, the immunopathological response coupled with suppression of the T lymphocyte system, inhibition of the enzymatic activity of leukocytes, dysproteinemias with hypergammaglobulinemia, reductions of the concentration of IgG underlie the disease pathogenesis. In the patients with high blood eosinophilia, including 4 with polysystemic lesions, the disease ran a grave course. The therapeutic effect could only be attained owing to the monotherapy with prednisolone. In the long-term period, 9 patients developed glucocorticoid-dependent bronchial asthma. The patients with moderate blood eosinophilia showed a milder disease course and a favourable outcome.

[Prevention of chronic bronchitis in relation to the stage of development under current conditions of the organization of medical care]. / Profilaktika khronicheskogo bronkhita s uchetom étapov ego razvitiia v sovremennykh usloviiakh organizatsii meditsinskoi pomoshchi.

Mass screening was used for a study of chronic bronchitis (CB) morbidity among 5107 construction workers and employees in the city of Barnaul. The rate of persons at risk of developing CB was 10.1%, with prebronchitis 7.9%, with CB 11.1%. CB stage-related individual therapeutic and prophylactic activities in outpatient clinics resulted in a decrease in morbidity rates of diseases of the respiratory organs with temporary loss of working capacity per 100 workers: from 98.3 (in 1980) to 17.5 cases (in 1984), i.e. from 1162.9 to 107.3 days, respectively, when a preventorium is engaged; without preventorium cases reduced from 93.5 to 40.0, i.e. from 1091.6 to 394.1 days, respectively. The identification during CB formation of the stage of risk of CB development, the stage of prebronchitis and CB as a nosological entity promoted the improvement of organization of therapeutic and prophylactic care.

[Means for increasing the effectiveness of rehabilitation at the sanatorium-health resort stage in nonspecific lung diseases among the inhabitants of southwestern Siberia]. / Puti povysheniia éffektivnosti reabilitatsii pri nespetsificheskikh zabolevaniiakh legkikh u zhitelei iuga Zapadnoi Sibiri na sanatorno-kurortnom étape.

Rehabilitation of patients with nonspecific pulmonary diseases in the "Barnaulsky" sanatorium (521 patients) resulted in a 3.5-fold decrease in the number of cases of exacerbation during one year after treatment, the duration of temporary disability was decreased 2.7-fold; these indices for the Belokurikha health resort (346 patients) were 3.2- and 6-fold, respectively; for prophylactic sanatoria at factories (709 patients)--3.3- and 3-fold; for a Crimean health resort in Yalta (266 patients)--3.2- and 2.5-fold. After rehabilitation in sanatoria dysadaptation reactions were noted in 69% of the patients treated in the contrast climatic area and in 16% of the patients treated in local sanatoria. Rehabilitation efficacy in patients with dysadaptation was twice less. Dysadaptation reaction prophylaxis raised 2-fold the efficacy of treatment in sanatoria. The development of specialized pulmonologocal care of patients with nonspecific pulmonary diseases in local Siberian sanatoria and health resorts and the development of problems related to the etiology, pathogenesis and prophylaxis of dysadaptation reactions in patients during treatment in contrast climatic health resort areas hold great promise for raising the efficacy of rehabilitation of patients residing in the South of West Siberia.

[Functional status of alveolar macrophages in different forms of chronic bronchitis during treatment]. / Funktsional'noe sostoianie al'veoliarnykh makrofagov pri razlichnykh formakh khronicheskogo bronkhita v protsesse lecheniia.

A study was made of the level, viability and functional activity of alveolar macrophages (AM) in lavage of 86 patients with chronic bronchitis (26 with nonobstructive and 60 with obstructive bronchitis). A decrease in AM viability by 11-25%, phagocytic activity 1.6-4.6-fold, the NBT-test 1.5-3.4-fold and an increase in acid phosphatase activity more than 2-fold were revealed. The degree of a decrease in AM activity depended on the presence of bronchial tree obstruction and the purulent nature of inflammation. Treatment (a total of 33 patients were examined) resulted in an increase in AM content and viability however AM functional properties did not return to normal completely, the rate of positive shifts in activity indices did not correlate with clinical manifestations. An analysis of the dependence of AM functional activity on the type of drug therapy showed that tetracycline inhibited AM functional activity, ampicillin made a favorable effect on the restoration of AM function and beclomet stimulated significantly AM activity.

[Lipid peroxidation as an indicator of the adaptive capacity of patients with chronic bronchitis during sanatorium and health resort treatment with a change in climate and geography]. / Perekisnoe okislenie lipidov kak pokazatel' adaptogennosti bol'nykh khronicheskim bronkhitom pri sanatorno-kurortnom lechenii so smenoi klimatogeograficheskoi zony.

Lipid peroxidation (LPO) in the blood plasma and erythrocytes was studied in 99 inhabitants of the southern part of West Siberia suffering from chronic bronchitis, of them 64 with obstructive bronchitis. They were sent for treatment to the contrast climatic zone (Yalta, the Crimea), and LPO was examined before the trip and after return in the course of a month (three times). LPO activity at a later stage as compared to the initial one was raised in the patients with signs of disadaptation (54 patients). The time course of LPO up to the initial level was over up to the 12th day after return in the patients with moderate symptoms of disadaptation in the warm season and up to the 30th day in the cold period. LPO activity in the patients with pronounced symptoms of disadaptation was more noticeable, the time course of the indicators up to the initial level was more delayed, particularly in erythrocytes and in the cold season. Thus LPO activity in chronic bronchitis in terms of its expression and period depends on patients' adaptogenicity to contrast change of climatic geographic zones after therapy in a sanatorium.